Suns acquire Kevin Durant from Nets —reports

Hours after Mat Ishbia took over as proprietor of the Phoenix Suns, the crew made a surprising acquisition, getting star ahead Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets late Wednesday evening, in keeping with The Athletic and ESPN.

Durant and T.J. Warren are headed to Phoenix in alternate for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder and 4 first-round draft picks, per the reviews. ESPN added that the Nets will get a 2028 draft-pick alternate, too.

The Suns add Durant to an underachieving squad that sits at 30-26, tied for fourth place within the Western Conference. Phoenix reached the NBA Finals in 2020-21, then posted the most effective regular-season document in 2021-22 earlier than falling to the Dallas Mavericks within the convention semifinals.

The NBA commerce deadline is Thursday.

Durant’s exit from the Nets ends the sorry historical past of a ballyhooed “Big Three” that was anticipated to deliver glory to Brooklyn.

Kyrie Irving signed a free-agent cope with the Nets in July 2021, and Durant joined up as a free agent the following month. When James Harden was acquired in a commerce in February 2022, the Nets had been considered as a prime contender, however accidents and Irving’s varied off-court points scuttled these hopes.

The Nets had been swept within the first spherical of the playoffs final season. Harden exited as a free agent in July. Irving demanded a commerce final week, then was dealt to the Mavericks on Monday, and now Durant is gone, too.

Durant, 34, gained two NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors, gained the NBA Most Valuable Player honor in 2013-14 and is a 13-time All-Star. He has been sidelined since Jan. 8 resulting from a sprained medial collateral ligament in his proper knee.

In 39 video games this season, Durant is averaging 29.7 factors, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists. In his NBA profession with the Seattle SuperSonics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State and Brooklyn, he has averages of 27.3 factors, 7.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

Warren, 29, performed in simply 20 video games for the Nets after recovering from a foot harm that sidelined him all of final season. He averaged 9.5 factors and a couple of.8 rebounds for Brooklyn, properly beneath his profession norms of 15.1 factors and 4 rebounds.

Bridges, 26, made the NBA All-Defensive crew final season. This season he was averaging a career-best 17.2 factors plus 4.3 rebounds in 56 video games for Phoenix, higher than his profession marks of 12.2 factors and 4 rebounds.

Johnson, 26, was placing up a career-best 13.9 factors plus 3.8 rebounds per contest in 17 video games (16 begins) for Phoenix this season. For his profession, he has averages of 10.7 factors and three.6 rebounds.

Crowder, 32, hasn’t performed this season, with the ahead and the Suns agreeing he would sit out till he might be traded. As he heads to the eighth crew in his NBA profession, he has averages of 9.6 factors and 4.3 rebounds.

–Field Level Media/Reuters